Idaho senior cross country runner Kinsey Gomez found herself ahead of the pack again at the Montana Invitational Saturday in Missoula.
A strong performance from Gomez landed her a first-place finish in the 5k with a time of 17 minutes, 11.62 seconds. The second-place runner finished 48 seconds behind Gomez.
It was Gomez’s second victory of the season.
“Kinsey ran incredibly strong and that was a dominant performance,” Idaho assistant coach Travis Floeck said. “I was hoping she would be tested today, but that will come in two weeks in Santa Clara. Kinsey is running at a very high level at the moment. Her races have been impressive.”
The Idaho women finished second as a team behind Montana State.
Junior Valerie Mitchell finished seventh overall and second among the Vandals with a time of 18:20.38. Sophomore Ally Ginther finished 10th overall with a time of 18:27.38. The Vandal top seven finishers included Gomez, Mitchell, Ginther, junior Halie Raudenbush (12th) and three freshmen — Andrea Condie (13th), Krista Story (14th) and McCall Skay (19th).
“We had some breakthrough performances from Halie Raudenbush and Krista Story today,” Floeck said. “It was good to see McCall back in the lineup after an illness and Val (Mitchell) had her best race of the season so far. I am excited to see this team build on this race.”
Junior Nathan Stark led the Vandal men by finishing eighth with a time of 25:31.85.
“Nathan ran so strong,” Floeck said. “The confidence he is showing this season has as much to do with his success racing as his improvement in his fitness.”
Idaho freshman Drew Schultz ran unattached and finished 11th.
The men’s team finished fourth out of the four Division I teams.
“They will continue to improve and progress,” Floeck said.
Next, some Idaho runners will compete at the Inland Empire Championships Oct. 17 in Lewiston. Others will run at the Santa Clara Invitational the same day in Santa Clara, California.
Faith Evans can be reached at [email protected]